419 scam: "Mrs. Sharon Chao" <akirasanten@gmail.com> Hello Friend,

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "contract award committee" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Sharon Chao" <akirasanten@gmail.com>
Reply-To: sharon.chao@mail.com
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2022 10:56:32 +0100
Subject: Hello Friend,

Hello Friend,

I am Mr. Frank Williams. I am a director of a contract award committee.

After due deliberation, I have decided to forward to you this business
proposal. As I said before I want a reliable person who could assist me to
receive the sum of Sixty Two Million Five Hundred United States Dollars
Only ($62,500,000.00) from the Finance Company where it was deposited, and
also possibly help me to invest the money on my behalf. Reason I come out
openly to deal with you is because I want to build a relationship with you.
I donâ€™t just want to deal with everybody or send messages without knowing
who I am dealing with, and also I find you as a trustworthy person to
handle the affair of this project.

This fund resulted from an over-invoiced bill from contracts awarded by my
committee under the budget allocation to my Ministry and this bill has been
approved for payment by the concerned Ministries years back., the contract
has since been executed, commissioned and the contractor was paid the
actual cost of the contract amount agreed on. I am left with the balance
US$62,500,000.00 as part of the over-invoiced amount which I have
deliberately over estimated for my own use.

Furthermore please let me know if you are willing to partner with me as I
will give you 30% of the total amount, which is $18,750,000.00 United
States Dollars. Let me know if you are willing to partner with me to enable
me to send full details and some documents relating to these funds.

Inclusion I will release the details of the director of the Finance
company, I will secure the legal documents that will put you in the
position of the owner of these funds, and also to enable you to meet the
director of the Finance House for the release of the funds to you. More
details will be released to you as soon as I receive your reply. Kindly
reply me through my private email address:

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Mr. Frank Williams.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam